Heh. No joke, my range check method is a strip of toilet paper hung in the window (window closed). I live on the second floor with the window facing up the street, so i just tie the plane in position so the propwash blows the TP up. Then walk up the street with the Tx, blipping the throttle while watching the TP.

IF there were ever a TP deflection without blipping the throttle, that would be cause for alarm but so far that hasn't happened.

If it's got landing gear then just set the plane on the ground. Put a piece of rope around the tail and stick like a screwdriver or something into the ground and tie the rope to it. Then you can walk away from the plane and power it up and down while moving the control surfaces.

I leave the transmitter, pick up the plane and go for a walk. I wait to hear the servos start to grunt and twitch or the motor spins. I would rather have full hands on control of the plane since I've had them come to life in a big way when the Tx/Rx loses the link.

I turn on the TX, put the battery in the plane, leave the TX antenna down, start the prop at a low speed, put the TX on the ground, hold the plane in the air and walk away from the TX about 33 steps or 100 feet. I listen for any servo noise or motor speed changes.
That appears to work for me.

I have a Berg4 and Futaba 4 channel conquest, when I pull the antenna on TX and then hook up battery, sometimes the berg doesnt boot correctly and servos hang up in deflected position. Tonight, I saw it do that again, so I purposely made sure neither RX or TX antennae were touching ground.

Is this normal for ground to prevent signal recognition? It boots fine if neither touches ground.

I put the plane on the ground, walk a hundred feet away, move the sticks and the RUN VERY FAST back to the plane to see if anything moved. Only problem is, none of my radios work with this method. LOL! Just kidding - the other suggestions here are much better.

I have a Berg4 and Futaba 4 channel conquest, when I pull the antenna on TX and then hook up battery, sometimes the berg doesnt boot correctly and servos hang up in deflected position. Tonight, I saw it do that again, so I purposely made sure neither RX or TX antennae were touching ground.

Is this normal for ground to prevent signal recognition? It boots fine if neither touches ground.

Normal range check with helper goes out to about 100 feet.

Harry

Yes this is normal - ideally the aircraft (receiver) should be above the ground. Castle addresses this in their user guides on their web site.